210221 SE Diss, H: Empirical Research of the Social Capital Theory (2008W)

In the literature much has been said about the importance of social capital in different disciplines. However there is very little clear about how the concept should be defined if it can be seen as a concept at all . It may be that it rather describes a field of research which contains several rather different variables. The most frequently mentioned variables are social contacts and social trust. However it has not been demonstrated that these two variables have a strong relationship which should be the case according to the social capital theory.
We may wonder why this is so? It would be possible that the measurement of these concepts was not good enough so far. This can be tested. It is also possible that it has been studied so far only in a limited number of countries where the relationship does not hold. It is also possible that the relationship should not be studied on individual level but on community level as many authors say.
However, it is also possible that the social capital theory is not sufficiently studied and is just not valid.

In this seminar we will discuss these issues. Of the participants an active participation will be asked, not only in reading but also analyzing data. The two courses on causal modeling and questionnaire design which I will give, will be used to prepare for this seminar. In the causal modeling course the theory will be elaborated in causal models and in the questionnaire design course we will look at the design of the questions relevant for the testing of the social capital models.
Participants in this seminar are therefore advised, if they can, to participate in the two other courses but this is not absolutely necessary as long as they have the knowledge about the topics of these two courses,

This seminar will take place between December 1 and December 20. There will be three meetings per week of three hours where results of literature and or analyses will be discussed. The participants are expected to read literature and analyze data between the meetings. The idea is to try to make a paper out the joint activities if that is possible.